TOPS has become untouchable

The most popular scholarship program in
Louisiana history is expected to cost the state over $234 million in
the next fiscal
year. The Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, better known as
TOPS, had a difficult time finding $1.9 million with which
to operate in 1989, its first year.

Despite its mounting costs, the program has become virtually untouchable. Like the homestead exemption that protects low-income
citizens from property taxes, TOPS is another sacred cow. Only one TOPS reform bill at the current legislative session has
gotten out of committee, and it was defeated this week in the state Senate.

The program is named for the late
oilman Patrick F. Taylor, who conceived the idea in 1988. That is when
he promised 183 students
in a middle school in New Orleans East he would make sure they
could attend college if they kept up their grades and stayed
out of trouble. They became known as “Taylor’s Kids” and
one-fourth of them ended up in college.

Taylor took his idea to the Legislature in 1989 and it passed the original TOPS program. The free tuition scholarships were
available for students who completed a core curriculum with a family income of $30,000 or less, a minimum American College
Test (ACT) score of 18 and who had no criminal record.

The proposal failed to pass in the regular session, but was approved at a special session. In late July, the state Board of
Regents OK’d the plan for the 1989 fall semester, but the $1.9 million still wasn’t available.

“The colleges can accept the children on the full faith and credit of Louisiana and they will be paid later,” said P.J. Mills,
Gov. Buddy Roemer’s chief of staff.

The state came through, and the $1.9
million was expected to accommodate about 1,280 students. First Lady
Barbara Bush, while
in New Orleans in 1989, challenged a group of underprivileged
college-bound students to work hard and keep up their grades.

The history of TOPS hasn’t been kind to
the two men who made the scholarship program available to more students
and financially
rewarding to those who excelled. Without their help and
legislative push, the program may have never blossomed into what it
is today.

Gov. Mike Foster (1996-2004) and state
Rep. Charles R. McDonald of Bastrop (1991-2008) got the Legislature in
1997 to open
TOPS benefits to all students with a 2.5 grade point average and a
19 on the ACT. Family income was no longer considered for
eligibility and students with better records were entitled to $400
and $800 in extra funding for other expenses.

McDonald sponsored ACT 1375 of 1997 and urged Foster to help him get the broader scholarship program into law. The governor
agreed, and McDonald’s legislation was approved unanimously in both the House and Senate.

I ran into McDonald at the state Capitol over a week ago when former legislators visited for their annual recognition day.
I told him Foster knew, he knew and others of us knew what a key role McDonald played in getting stable funding for TOPS.
It is time he and Foster receive the recognition they deserve.

Gov. Bobby Jindal and many legislators don’t want to change TOPS, but they are simply postponing the inevitable. The program
is projected to cost over $354 million in fiscal year 2018-19.

State Sen. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, sponsored the TOPS bill that was defeated in the Senate. His legislation (SB 520) made
modest changes in the program. It would have raised the grade point average from 2.5 to 2.75 and the ACT score from 20 to
21. The higher standards wouldn’t have started until the 2017-18 school year.

TOPS has benefited over 616,000
students since its beginning in 1999 at a cost of almost $1.8 billion.
However, the program
is in need of reform. Reports indicate, for example, that 40
percent of college freshmen who receive TOPS lose their funding
because of poor grades.

Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, got
an amendment added to Donahue’s bill that said students who lose their
scholarships
in the first year would have to repay their tuition money. The
amendment was approved 21-17. Johns and Morrish voted for it.
LaFleur and Smith were against.

Other TOPS bills are in the pipeline, but their odds of passage are slim to none. Jindal doesn’t want anyone messing around
with the scholarship program. A veto of any bills that pass is almost guaranteed.

Rep. Joe Harrison, R-Houma, saw one of
his TOPS bills die in committee. He said the Legislature is “robbing
Peter to pay Paul.”
In other words, it is taking money from a state budget that is in
the red to finance TOPS. Or getting rid of one debt by going
deeper in the hole somewhere else. Colleges and universities are
responsible for educating TOPS recipients, but they get hit
really hard in the process.

This is just another example of a governor and a Legislature refusing to fix a serious problem, content to leave the solutions
to the next administration. Shame on those who refuse to accept their financial responsibilities.

Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than five decades. Contact him at 494-4025 or jbeam@americanpress.com.

The legis are the reason TOPS cost have risen. They robbed higher ed and replaced the funds with higher tuition. Tution cost is what the cost are calculated at. Does not take a rocket scientist to figure that out. The legis continue to fund NGO's which is not the responsibility of the state. They continue to waste funds on unneeded studies. Louisiana is not cash poor, it just spends too much on junk. The legis need to look in the mirror for the problem. What would they use the funds for if it was stopped, more junk.